Databases are a powerful tool for storing and organizing large amounts of data in a more or less centralized location. Over the past decade, there has been an explosion in data generation and storage creating data management issues never encountered before and placing huge burdens on traditional database tools. A new concept has been coined—“big data” —reflecting the new sources of largely unstructured data that flows into and through computer networks from e.g., Twitter and the like.
In addition to sheer data volume and bandwidth, storage has moved and is structured more around a network protocol with cloud data management offering many benefits including faster access and more easily applied redundancies. To be properly implemented, databases are designed depending on data volume, structure, access speed and ultimate use in one or more applications or platforms.
Databases are often created for specific purposes or projects, such as application development. Without proper management tools, the proliferation of project-specific databases created within an enterprise can easily spiral out of control with each added database possibly requiring the addition of server equipment, storage space, software licenses, support staff, maintenance costs, security overhead, and possible data duplicity. The ever increasing footprint of databases also raises issue of data quality and calls for monitoring system and governance controls.